This semester is coming to an end. The UC system schools in California operate on a quarter system. Stanton University also operates on a quarter system, and this marks the end of my second quarter.
Pursuing an online MBA while working has meant dividing my time to complete assignments and rushing to read books. Last semester, being my first, I started with one course. This semester, feeling I could handle more, I took two courses. It seems to have been a good choice. While I think I could manage three courses if I pushed myself harder, that would mean dedicating the entire quarter to reading books and doing assignments. So, I'll likely alternate between taking 2 or 3 courses each quarter.
I had set some goals when starting this American online MBA. First was to regain my English proficiency. Having been in Korea for a while, I kept forgetting English, but now I was determined to recover it. Doing assignments in English definitely helped me feel like my English was improving. My proofreading skills improved, and my reading speed increased significantly. It felt like going back to my school days.
One of the assignments involved recording and submitting a presentation. This made me pay attention to speaking English again. Personally, attending a foreign church in Korea has given me many opportunities to speak English, which has greatly improved my skills. I looked into foreign churches and found quite a few. There were churches for English speakers near Hongdae Station, Myeongdong Station, and Yongsan Station, and I started attending one of them. My first goal of regaining English proficiency is on track to recover to its past level.
Learning business concepts in English has been quite helpful. There are quite a few business theories that are useful to know. Honestly, cost accounting and managerial accounting aren't currently helpful for me. Since computer programs handle most of it anyway, I don't necessarily need to know the cost and managerial accounting processes. However, the concepts covered in cost and managerial accounting seem helpful. Models like Activity-
Based Costing, which identify various factors affecting costs, seem to help in training one's thinking. Organizational behavior and international marketing seem to help increase understanding of human nature. When talking with friends in the US, I remembered quoting a Bible verse: "For everything in the world, cravings of sinful men, lust of the eyes, and boasting of what he has and does." People tend to boast about what they have and do, and marketing activities that utilize this seem to be gaining public interest. My second goal of satisfying intellectual curiosity has definitely been achieved.
The school occasionally sends out newsletters, and I learned that both bachelor's and master's degrees in business can be completed entirely online. The MBA I'm currently pursuing is available both online and on-campus. You're not separated at admission; you can switch to campus anytime if you want.
I realized this is possible for business degrees too. It's been a while since I graduated from college, so I hadn't paid much attention, but I became interested after seeing news about Dongduk Women's University. Sometimes people transfer to change their school name while studying at a Korean university, and I thought aiming for an American university might be a good idea.
There are international universities in Songdo, including SUNY, George Mason, and University of Utah Asia Campus. The tuition, when everything is added up, seemed almost the same as American universities. Most places ask for $1,400 per credit, so it looks quite expensive to graduate. In comparison, Stanton University charges $220 per credit for undergraduates and $330 for graduate students, which seemed almost the same as graduating from a Korean university.
If interested, check out this link: https://stanton.edu/admission/tuition-fees/
While living in California directly would be expensive, I thought it might be a good option to take online classes from Korea for 3 years and then go to the US for 1 year of classes. If Korean credits can be used for transfer to the US, it seemed possible to shorten the study period and graduate with a bachelor's degree at a lower cost.
When submitting job applications, if you're going to list an American university graduation anyway, it seemed better to transfer from a Korean university to an American one, as you wouldn't necessarily need to include your previous Korean school record.
Anyway, as the world changes, school systems change, and situations change, it seems good to formulate strategies and act accordingly. One thing I emphasize while doing my MBA is "flexible thinking."